Readout of the President’s Call with Governors and Mayors

Today, the President held a call with Governors and Mayors from affected states and areas to express his concern for residents who have been and continue to be impacted by Sandy, as well as to hear directly from the Governors and Mayors on their ongoing response efforts. On the call, the President began by thanking the officials for their leadership in the face of this severe storm, and praised the heroism of the emergency response teams leading the efforts. He also noted his sadness over the loss of life associated with the storm so far. The President made clear that he has directed his team to continue to lean forward and provide all available resources to support ongoing response and recovery efforts.

On the call, a number of Governors offered assistance to states that had more severe impacts and the President directed Administrator Fugate to make sure FEMA was providing any and all assistance they could to support the movement of these resources from state to state. The President also made clear that his team is working to identify any additional assistance that could further help the state, local, and private sector efforts to bring power back online faster, and that his team would continue aggressively towards this goal.

The President closed the call by asking the Governors and Mayors to identify any unmet needs as the response to Sandy continues, and told them that his team, through Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano and Administrator Fugate, would remain in constant contact. The President made clear that the state and local officials should be in touch with him directly if any issues arose.

The President was joined in the Situation Room by Chief of Staff Jack Lew, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security John Brennan, Press Secretary Jay Carney, Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco, Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security Richard Reed, White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs David Agnew, Deputy Communications Director Jen Palmieri, and other senior members of the President's team.